Table 3.

Types of Schedule Changes: Fostering Schedule Patching.

Schedules	Subtype	Definition	Example	Quotes from interviews
Proactive	Day shifting	Ability to change or adjust the planned or scheduled days one regularly works	Employee driven: Nurse with childcare demands on Tuesdays and Thursdays swaps days with colleague to workdays that accommodate her schedule. Employer driven: Scheduler uses census to determine how many employees are needed and then informs employees of days scheduled to work.	“(Workers) change with one another. They have a schedule change form. If they need to … somebody will work for somebody else.”—Director of Nursing, A “Scheduler, she takes care of all that, she’s responsible for filling in any holes in the schedule and she processes.”—Unit Manager, H
	Hourly shifting	Ability to change or adjust the hours one regularly works	Employee driven: Certified nursing assistant has personal demands that prevent them from arriving to the predetermined shift times. Employer driven: Manager arranges for employees to work a longer or shorter shift.	“Somebody having childcare problems, can’t get to work at 3:00pm. I can get to work at four, okay we can do that for three weeks until you get your sitter in line.”—Administrator, A “We have holidays sometimes where on Christmas or New Year’s three nurses work one shift because they all do two hours, two hours, two hours, or whatever, which is fine. It fits their need plus it fits our need.”—Director of Nursing, A
Reactive	Callouts	A worker does not show, calls in because unable to come to work, or worker is asked to work	Employee driven: Nurse calls in because of last-minute personal emergency (e.g., sick, child is sick, death). Employer driven: Patient demand is higher than expected or filling a hole/cancellation.	“I’m having a family issue, there’s no way I’m going to able to make it in.”—Supervisor describes employee, D “Certainly, if they are short or if they need assistance … they’ll page (or call) us and we’ll come in.”—Unit Manager, E
	Time off	A worker requests time off (not vacation) or is given time off	Employee driven: Worker needs time off for personal reason. Employer driven: Patient demand lower than expected.	“I have a doctor’s appointment; do you mind if I leave like at 1:00?” or “Can I go and can can I come back?”—Unit Manager about employee, B “We usually have to send someone home early … now that our census is down.”—Director of Nursing, B